


if it's not us, in the end...

by sanctify (pains)



Series: 【50 KISSES】A. AGRESTE ♡ [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs a Hug, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, amnesia of the magical kind, he gets a hug and a kiss too, implied post-reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:14:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22596904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pains/pseuds/sanctify
Summary: can i even stop my heart from loving you?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: 【50 KISSES】A. AGRESTE ♡ [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1624198
Comments: 22
Kudos: 90





	if it's not us, in the end...

**Author's Note:**

> _8\. Laying a gentle kiss to the back of the other’s hand._

Marinette wakes up in a bed. She sits up and looks around her. 

It's not her bed, not her room. Where is she?!

"Marinette?"

It's a voice that she doesn't know, but it fills her heart with warmth and affection. And sadness, such deep sadness that came out of nowhere.

The door to the room opens and in steps a boy probably her age that looks vaguely familiar. Where has she seen him before?

She scrutinizes the blond in front of her, eyes squinting. He just smiles at her scrutiny, not saying a word, letting her drink in his features as if he's used to being stared at. 

(She hates the smile. Some part of her knows it's fake. She can tell that sadness swims in his eyes, such a deep sadness it's a surprise he hasn't broken down yet.)

He looks like a model, actually.

That's when it hits her. In a flash of clarity and, surprisingly, anger, she remembers where she's seen this face before. This boy is Gabriel Agreste's son. (She doesn't understand why she thinks of her ex-idol with such contempt. Heck, she doesn't know why she's so adamant that he's an ex-idol and not the man she's admired since she learned how to work a sewing machine. There's a hatred that's deep and she doesn't want to touch it with a 50 foot pole until she gets her bearings together.)

"Adrien?" She asks. That is his name, right? She vaguely remembers his name being mentioned in one of the captions on her favorite issue of Mode. 

His eyes widen, and her heart skips a beat at the hope she sees in them. (His eyes are beautiful... like gemstones.)

"You remember me?!" He asks. He looks so hopeful, so desperate for her to know who he is. 

"I..." she trails off. "I'm sorry... I don't..."

"Oh."

And it's the way he says "oh" that breaks her heart.

"I'm sorry."

"N-no, it's fine, Bug--I mean, Marinette. I..." He doesn't look at her anymore, and she doesn't have to see his face to know he's crying. His shoulders shake.

"This is all my fault." He says, sniffling. "I'm so sorry, My Lady. I'm so sorry."

She reaches a hand out to touch his shoulder.

He doesn't push it off, she doesn't pull him in.

"I'm sorry I don't remember."

She looks at a conveniently placed mirror beside the bedroom closet and looks at her reflection. She doesn't look like she's 14 anymore.

She chokes on her breath. Her face has matured, baby fat has disappeared, cheekbones prominent. Her hair's shorter now, reaching just below her ears. She's, she's got curves now.

What happened?!

"I'm... I'm older." She says into the mirror.

Adrien Agreste looks at her again, eyes red-rimmed. "What's the last thing you remember?"

And she furrows her brow at that. "I... I don't know."

"What are your parents' names?"

"Tom Dupain, and Sabine Cheng."

"Do you know your best friend's name?"

"Um..." She wasn't sure if she had a best friend. Sure, she has friends, multiple, but she's not sure which of them she'd consider a best friend.

"Does the name Alya Cèsaire not ring any bells?"

"No, not really?" She shakes her head. It was a nice name though.

"How about Nino?"

"Lahiffe?"

"Yeah."

"I know him."

Adrien smiles, it's small, "He's my best friend. And Alya is yours. Thanks to something you did five years ago when we were 14, they've since been dating."

Marinette smiles at that. "I'm glad."

Adrien shakes his head, "You don't even remember what it is you did but you're still happy. What if it had been something bad?" He says, teasing.

"Well, I've always been a massive klutz so I'm not even going to question it." She grins.

So, she's got some kind of amnesia. And she's lost 5 years worth of memories.

Okay.

She's not going to panic.

She looks at Adrien. He's not... he doesn't look like the type of person that'd take advantage of her. Something, her gut feeling perhaps, is telling her that she trusts him more than anything else in this world. (Which says a lot because she knows herself to be distrustful at first. Even with her memories gone, her instincts tell her that she is safest here, subconsciously telling her that Adrien would never harm her.) She wants to ask him why that is, but he still looks like he's on the verge of a breakdown, so she'll spare him.

"Where am I?" She asks instead.

"Our apartment." He answers.

"Oh." She looks around her again, in renewed fascination. "There's... a lot less pink."

To her surprise, and delight, Adrien laughs, he has a beautiful laugh. "You said you didn't want the walls to be pink even though I said it was fine."

She grins at him.

She's not an idiot.

She lives with him. He makes her heart jump. He desperately wants her to remember him to the point that when she confirms she doesn't remember, he starts crying.

She loves him.

He loves her.

Adrien places a hand on her shoulder, "You must be thirsty or hungry. I'll go get you some snacks and a drink, okay?"

Before he can lift his hand off her shoulder, she grabs onto his wrist.

He jumps a little. "My--Mari?"

She brings his hand closer to her. Her fingers trace his, memorizing the positions of calluses in his bony fingers. What does he do for them to look and feel like this? He's got long fingers, does he play an instrument?

There's so much about this boy she doesn't know about, or well, she probably knew him a lot, but that's all knowledge that she's lost. Yet still, she loves him and he loves her.

Her index finger taps against a silver ring and for some reason that fills her with sadness.

(It's not on his left hand, it's not an engagement ring. It's not their engagement ring, and that fills her with relief. She doesn't want to forget something that important.)

She looks at his veiny wrist, tracing the green lines in his skin, touch featherlight.

She turns his hand, palm downwards.

She looks up at his eyes, and they're staring at her, filled with wonder and sadness and love, so much love.

She places a soft, gentle kiss on his knuckles.

"I'm sorry I don't remember who you are." Marinette says, lacing her fingers with Adrien's, and looking him in the eye.

"But that doesn't change the fact that I love you." She smiles. "I love you so much, and I trust you wholeheartedly. Always."

He's crying again, and Marinette wonders if he's easily moved to tears or if maybe he was afraid that she'd leave him once she woke up and forgot all about him.

"Mari," he says, choking on a sob.

She finally tugs him into her arms, lets him rest his head on her shoulder and cry.

Her fingers find their way into his hair.

* * *

Tikki and Plagg watch as the new Guardian curls himself against the former.

"Let's give them space, Sucre."

"Of course." 

**Author's Note:**

> ok so the song used as inspiration this time is actually in my native tongue 🇵🇭 so forgive me for the crappy english translation heheh


End file.
